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Description

Sweet and hot, crispy and tender, garlicky, gingery General Tso’s chicken is a mainstay of Chinese buffets and restaurants, but you can make it better, fresher and healthier at home!

Ingredients

FOR THE CHICKEN:

1-½ teaspoonToasted Sesame Oil

1 TablespoonSoy Sauce

1 wholeLarge Egg White

¼ cupsPlus 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

1 poundBoneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs

Canola, Peanut, Or Vegetable Oil For Frying

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 TablespoonPeanut, Canola Or Vegetable Oil

2 clovesGarlic, Peeled And Minced

2 TablespoonsFinely Chopped Fresh Ginger Root

1 cupChicken Broth Or Stock

¼ cupsSoy Sauce

1 TablespoonCornstarch

1 teaspoonChinese Chile-garlic Sauce

3 TablespoonsRaw (turbinado Or Demerara) Sugar

FOR SERVING:

4 wholeScallions, Thinly Sliced

Steamed Rice

Steamed Broccoli

Preparation

Prep your chicken:
In a mixing bowl, stir together the sesame oil, soy sauce, egg white, and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch until a thick slurry forms. It will look gummy but smooth.

Add the chicken pieces and stir until all are evenly coated. At first it may appear that it will not come together but it does!
Set chicken aside, covered lightly with plastic wrap, at room temperature for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Begin the sauce:
Add the tablespoon of oil to a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat. Stir the garlic and ginger into the oil and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining sauce ingredients until smooth. Pour into the garlic and ginger, stirring, until the sauce becomes thick and shiny. Once the sauce thickens, lower heat and keep the saucepan over a low burner partially covered to stay warm.

To fry the chicken:
Heat 1/2-inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed, high-sided frying pan or skillet over high heat.

When the oil is shimmering, add one piece of chicken at a time, taking care not to crowd the pan. Cook chicken for 4 minutes on each side, or until deep golden brown and crisp on both sides**.

Transfer the fried chicken to a paper towel lined plate and repeat the process until you’ve cooked all the chicken.

Then slide all of the fried chicken into the prepared sauce and toss to coat. (If desired, add some steamed broccoli to coat with the sauce also.) Increase the heat to medium, stir and cook just until hot all the way through.

Sprinkle with sliced scallions and serve immediately over white rice.

**A note: Chicken is a safe food for me. I know that just about anything done to it is going to yield something that is, at the very least, edible. This is especially true of boneless skinless chicken thighs. It’s really hard to mess those up! They stay tender and juicy and it’s very hard indeed to cook them to the point of chicken jerky. Be sure to cook them through, you definitely want that crisp, deep-brown coating to hold up to the sauce!

Made this last night and it was VERY yummy! although I must have done something wrong in the first step to coat the chicken, mine was way to thick/dry and had to add more soy sauce to be able to coat the chicken

I’ve made this recipe a few times and really enjoy it. I’d much rather have this than takeout! If I’m in a hurry I’ve tried subbing Trader Joe’s Tempura Chicken (without the sauce packet) and just tossing it in the sauce which turned out nicely. Otherwise I think this is a great recipe exactly as written. Thanks a lot!

For such a labor intensive dish I expected something delicious. The flavor was just off. When frying the chicken the batter stuck to the bottom of the pan which I was able to fix. We will not be making this again.

I was really excited to try this, and not entirely disappointed – however, my boyfriend and I found it a bit too salty (probably because of the soy sauce we used) and not as sweet as the kind we get when we’re out.